Animals

I tried not to write this post exactly like this. I waited, and tried not to go completely nuclear.

I sit four rows behind Steven Kampfer's parents. I know this because last night, when Steve Kampfer laid on the ice after being assaulted from behind by Andrew Conboy and then slashed in the head by Corey Tropp, one group of enraged Michigan fans was even more shocked than the rest of the crowd. Kampfer's mother went down to the State bench and started screaming. An usher came up to restrain her, and she cried out "that's my son." Another relative was looking around incredulously, crying, panicking, her hands waving in the air pointlessly. It's the kind of random motion you make when something has to be done and you're totally helpless. Kampfer's dad left, and I thought about following him.

Later Comley would relate that a Michigan fan broke into the locker room and tried to fight Tropp; multiple reports say it was him. I wish I, and about 200 students, had been there, too. But that's the difference between men and pigs like Conboy and Tropp: we weren't.

I thought maybe I'd be less livid after sleeping on it. I'm not. What happened last night was the most disgraceful thing I've ever seen at a sporting event, and if either of those two animals ever plays against Michigan again I'll be hoping they break their necks. That is not a kind or noble or understanding thing to say, but it's true. That was disgusting. Both should be kicked out of the CCHA, period.

Someone who should also be gone: Kevin Hall. Hall watched Conboy pull all sorts of crap, including punching Tristin Llewellyn in the face as he looked at it directly, and didn't put a stop to it. Given the opportunity to boot him off the ice with a ten minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike, he instead turned it into a minor and let Conboy loose with under a minute left. He lost control of the game. He's an idiot. He should be fired.

And let's not exonerate Comley here. He recruited Conboy and knew exactly what he was getting. Conboy's older brother was booted out of SCSU for anger management issues (side note: how big of a prick must their father be? I can only imagine) and he racked up huge penalty totals across three years of juniors. He's their leading PIM guy this year, and the announcers in the above clip euphemistically call him State's "police/enforcer," by which they mean talentless thug. During the game it became clearer and clearer that Conboy was just looking for heads to add to the wall, but Comley kept throwing him out there. Down two goals with under ten minutes on the clock, Comley went to a guy with five points on the season.

Then Comley managed to impugn a couple of Michigan players' class for talking crap to him after all this in the postgame presser. You can say whatever you want about how nice a guy he is and what an ambassador for the game he is, but that's pathetic. That's someone in denial about what happened and his role in it.

As for Tropp: a two-handed slash to the head of a prone, motionless player should be cause for ejection from the team, expulsion from school, and criminal charges. I hope the Kampfer family presses charges, and I look forward to seeing Tropp's arrest for meth addiction in my local electronic newspaper in 15 years.

I've seen some messed up stuff in my years around hockey but that was the worst I've ever seen live. Only a few incidents in the NHL rival it (Mcsorley, Bertuzzi, Simon). Unreal.

The scene in there was tense, and thinking about it the next day I wonder how close we could have been to something like the Palace incident, had others gone to the MSU locker room.

Luckily Red didn't have the boys retaliate on the ice in the 5 on 3, and he even had the class to insist the handshakes still take place. Just think about what could have happened if he had a goon go out there or if he recruited similar scum to what Comley brought to MSU.

"Fuck you, State" was the worst they got last night, but they really aren't worth more than that, anyways.

Has there been any postgame reaction from either side? Just reading mgoblue.com there was absolutely no mention of this in the postgame report or the quotes. Brian, for us who aren't close to ann arbor right now keep us updates as to whether these punks for state are being punished and if any criminal charges are filed.

ALSO, and more importantly is Kampfer okay? Given his past injuries and all I hope for the best.

The written descriptions don't do that justice. The second MSU thug really tried to slash Kampfer's head off... he really could have killed him. Unfortunately, there is an attitude that if something happens in the playing "field" it isn't criminal. It really should be, though.

I have to hope that his prior injury wasn't a part of their "calculations." What I mean is I hope they didn't target the guy because of his previous injuries. If they did, they aren't animals but psychopaths.

"Later Comley would relate that a Michigan fan broke into the locker room and tried to fight Tropp; multiple reports say it was him. I wish I, and about 200 students, had been there, too. But that's the difference between men and pigs like Conboy and Tropp."
Yes... because being a pig is the only way to stop pigs.

"And let's not exonerate Comley here. He recruited Conboy and knew exactly what he was getting."
The logic here is perfect.

Calling someone out to fight them face-to-face, while maybe not the ideal course of action, is at least honorable and respectable. Slugging someone in the back of the skull while his back is turned to you and slashing him in the throat while he lay motionless is cowardly, dishonorable and unacceptable in any athletic event. Do you understand the difference? It may seem subtle to you, but it isn't.

If an adult male took a hockey stick to my unconscious son's neck, you can bet your life I would try to beat the hell out of said adult male scumbag. You can think less of me for it, but in that case I feel bad for your kids!

I realize Brian's post was written in anger, but it's still been posted for all to see... implying MSU's coach left a thug out there to purposefully hurt people instead of trying to win the game? Sensationalism. I don't think a knee-jerk reaction that tries to reduce this to a black & white, good vs. evil incident is productive or rational. See BGH's comment above for perspective.

It's like saying you ate at Taco Bell for dinner on Monday, then had dinner at a five star restaurant on Tuesday. Sure both nights you ate "dinner", but they were nowhere near the same thing except on the most basic level. Or you drive a Yugo, but your neighbor drives a Ferrari. Yes, they are both "cars", but that's about where the comparison stops. You labeling both as "attacks from behind" DOES NOT make them equal.

You compared a "crosscheck" after a goal, to a sucker punch attack from behind.

Crosschecks happen routinely in hockey, and you'll see them in every game (especially after goals). They happen so often, there's even have a penalty in the rulebook for it. You think Holmstrom is surprised when he's in front of the net and somebody crosschecks him (even after the play is over)? No, it's expected.

Slashing happens in hockey too. And they happen EVERY game. To compare every single slash to McSorley-Brashear is just as stupid.

This was a vicious attack on an UNSUSPECTING victim. You trying to turn this into a "But every team has kids guilty of taking cheap shots" argument is unbelievable. How can you not be outraged?

Oh wait, I see where you admitted you were NOT a Michigan hockey fan. My bad. As you were.

I specifically avoided that allegation. He didn't put him out there specifically to hurt people, but he should have known better.

Comley recruited this guy, then put him out on the ice when he's obviously pissed off and obviously of no use when it comes to, you know, scoring. Having him out there was *asking* for an incident like this.

a pig? are you kidding me? I believe that it was the father of Kampfer. Just months after he had been assaulted on campus and had his skull fractured he came back to play. When that incident happened there was a very strong possibility that he wouldn't ever come back to play for the maize and blue. so yes, it was a small miracle that he made it back.

And then this happened. His son, after all that had happened earlier in the year, got a cheap shot then a slash to the back of his head/neck. Yes, it is a game, but those are criminal offenses and could've paralyzed his son. Are you saying after all of that you wouldn't have gone apeshit if that was your son?

If that was my son, I'd be in jail but the asshole that did it would be beat to shit.

Life should not be a journey to the grave to arrive safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What A Ride!" HST

Utterly despicable. I have never seen anything like this. It is worse than Bertuzzi due to the slash from his Goon Buddy after he lay motionless on the ice. Do MSU people not realize this is precisely the reason no one respects them, because representatives of their University go out with the Spartan Green and do shit like this. They should be banned from the CCHA and expelled, along with criminal charges. I hope his father got a hold of him before they corralled him. Simply unconscionable.

"I think the question, really, becomes: do we regulate the game and take away the physical nature in order to prevent stuff like this from happening?"

That is a false choice. There are plenty of physical sports where this kind of thuggery doesn't happen nearly like it does in hockey. A sport can have a "physical nature" and not have to tolerate brutality.

Hockey is intrinsically physically violent. It's easy to have a gut-check "oh my God those animals" reaction- but it would be far more productive to address the rules that tolerate escalation of violence.

Might try reading the post next time. The NCAA does have rules already in place -- it's the refs who are not enforcing them.

"Someone who should also be gone: Kevin Hall. Hall watched Conboy pull all sorts of crap, including punching Tristin Llewellyn in the face as he looked at it directly, and didn't put a stop to it. Given the opportunity to boot him off the ice with a ten minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike, he instead turned it into a minor and let Conboy loose with under a minute left. He lost control of the game. He's an idiot. He should be fired."

Life should not be a journey to the grave to arrive safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What A Ride!" HST

And, the essence of hockey does not include assault with a deadly weapon.

Life should not be a journey to the grave to arrive safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What A Ride!" HST

You must be very young or have a short memory. Constant fighting used to be a real problem in the NCAA. The NCAA changed the rules and the problem has been reduced dramatically.

Yeah, every time I leave a hockey game at Yost and someone has not been laid out on the ice I always say, "Wow, that game totally sucked!!"

Life should not be a journey to the grave to arrive safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What A Ride!" HST

"Hockey is a physical sport that is played with weapons. No other sport comes close to possessing this combination."

Hmmmm, how about all that violence in LaCrosse and Field Hockey?

Life should not be a journey to the grave to arrive safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What A Ride!" HST

"Lacrosse is played by pussies - who, again, aren't on skates - and there are no boards. The stick is much shorter and not nearly as - potentially speaking - hazardous."

You are wrong on both counts. I'm going to take the first "point" as self-evidently false and made by someone who knows nothing about the sport. The second reinforces that you know nothing, since if you knew the sport you'd know that defenders use sticks about the length of hockey sticks (5' and longer).

Big Gay Heart, you were the one that posted "a physical sport that is played with weapons. No other sport comes close to possessing this combination."

I repeat, you posted: "No other sport comes close to possessing this combination."

I gave you two examples that meet that criteria (coming close) by any definition. Your post that I was replying to did not even mention skates.

Life should not be a journey to the grave to arrive safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What A Ride!" HST

I feel like a dick participating in an extremely stupid digression, but:

1. Everywhere in the world other than the US, Field Hockey is a man's sport. I have never watched it, so I can't speak to the physicality.

2. Everything you say about lacrosse (sticks aren't as long (defense sticks are much, much longer), there are no boards (the most economically viable lacrosse league is indoors, with boards)) is plain evidence of someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. This comes from someone who spend 16 years playing lacrosse ranging from junior high school to semi-professional.

No, a hockey stick is a tool used to play hockey. It CAN be used as a weapon, but that does NOT mean it should be. Hell, a table can be used as a weapon. A garbage can could be used as a weapon. A doorknob could be used as a weapon. It doesn't mean they should be.

Hockey is a physical sport. It should NOT be violent. Violence implies recklessness with the intent to injure. I've played hockey, and you might have also. I'm sure tons of other people on here have too. You don't go hit someone to hurt them. You hit them to take them off the puck. That is physicality. That is an intrinsic part of hockey. When you start doing things with an intent to injure, that is violence. That deserves punishment, and with the severity of this case, serious punishment.

Hockey has animosity and scrums, we know this. Animosity and scrummage(?) are not what make this incident exceptional. What makes this exceptional are two (maybe 3) things: (1) The shots taken at Kampfer were cheap (2) Both cheap shots were to the head and neck (therefore, potentially career/life-ending) and (3) Kampfer's recent skull/backbone injury (though I, personally, would not argue this last point as every guy on the ice is subjecting himself to the same risks). This was no "fine line" that was crossed ... it was a fucking eight-lane highway.

We're not pissed at Spartina because she retaliated; because she lashed out like the sore loser we all know her to be. It was the manner of her so doing! Cowardly, dishonorable, shameful, disgraceful ... these characteristics of Conboy & Tropp's actions are deontological in nature. Excessive, potentially career-ending, potentially resulting in lifelong disability ... these are consequentialist in nature. So, the Michigan RAGE is well-rounded, valid, and justified from any rational perspective.